Cincinnati Star Baba Miller's Journey from Spain to the 2026 NBA Draft

Even before arriving in America to play college basketball, Baba Miller had already experienced high-level basketball in Europe.

Growing up in Mallorca, Spain, Miller was recruited to play for Real Madrid, one of the top organizations in Europe, at around 12-years-old. With the club, Miller competed in national tournaments against other big teams like Barcelona and Valencia.

Real Madrid has produced a number of NBA players, including Los Angeles Lakers' superstar Luka Doncic and Rudy Fernandez, who Miller said has he looked up to throughout his basketball career.

Miller's time with the club prepared him for college basketball, but the former four-star recruit still had to adjust when he got to Florida State as a freshman.

"The adjustment was rough," Miller said. "Especially the physicality.  Just like playing against bigger guys, stronger guys, older guys. Up to that point I would play against guys my age, and then all of a sudden I'm playing guys that are maybe like four years older than me, five years older than me. So that was an adjustment, then also just a whole preseason and stuff. It's like, 5 months of, of just straight work. In Madrid, the seasons were a bit longer, so preseason wasn't as big of a period."

After two seasons with the Seminoles, Miller transferred to Florida Atlantic for a year before spending his final collegiate campaign at Cincinnati. Miller noted that one reason he chose the Bearcats was to compete against the best teams and players in college basketball.

The veteran big man got his wish, helping Cincinnati take down likely top picks Darryn Peterson and Kansas, as well as AJ Dybantsa and BYU.

As a senior, Miller averaged 13 points, 10.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.2 blocks per game while shooting 52.9% from the field.

Baba Miller looked like a first-round pick in the opening NBA Combine scrimmage, showing off unique two-way versatility at 7-feet in shoes with a 9'3 standing reach.

Love that he elected to play again this afternoon rather than rest on the laurels of his 20-point opener. pic.twitter.com/5XO7rMbbEF
— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) May 14, 2026

Miller's impressive performance season earned him an invitation to the NBA Combine, where the Bearcats' standout performed well in scrimmages and measured 6-foot-10-and-a-half without shoes and recorded a 7-foot-1-and-three-quarters wingspan.

After a four-year NCAA career that saw Miller appear in 113 games and make 99 starts, Miller has a strong chance to be an early second-round pick in the 2026 NBA Draft class. Derek Parker paired the skilled big man with Chicago at No. 38 overall in his latest mock draft.

Aside from Miller's production and size, the Spanish forward highlighted a few other aspects of his skill set that could be helpful at the next level.

"My versatility in general," Miller said. " I feel like I can affect the game in a lot of different ways on both ends. I feel like just giving teams the ability to do different things on offense and on defense. Whether it's defensive schemes; like switching, guarding different positions, being able to rebound the ball at a high level, and have the ability to push in transition, [make plays] for my teammates, run without the ball in space. to make my teammates better. Those are the main things that I can bring immediately to an NBA team."

The first person in his family to play basketball, Miller's journey began at a young age and took him from one of Spain's top youth programs, to a strong college career that included two stints at power conference programs.

Now, Miller has a chance to continue that journey in the NBA.

Add us as a preferred source on Google